To reach the Bay Area from our house, it’s necessary to drive through Half Moon Bay.  Half Moon Bay is famous for having the Pumpkin Festival every year.  Although they hold the festival the weekend before Halloween, the pumpkins stay on the ground until early December.  This week must have been the time to remove the pumpkins, because the way to work was strewn with pumpkin remnants.

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Once the festival finishes, Half Moon Bay prepares for the Christmas season.  You can visit with Santa, go on a pony ride, and pick up a tree.  The Christmas season has officially begun.  On the way home from birding today, I noticed that 20% of the cars had a tree on top.

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So today was a good day to get off the coast and away from the Christmas activities.  I headed to the Baylands in Palo Alto.  The Baylands is a group of marshes that are connected to freshwater inside the Bay.  If you ever want to see ducks and geese, go to the Baylands.  I saw eight new birds today.

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This post is about the American Avocet.  After almost a year of trying to find him, I saw my first one last week.  Today, I saw even more!  Isn’t it funny how that works?  It was the same thing with Black Phoebes.  It took me forever to see one and now I see them almost every week.  In fact, here:

I saw several today, and captured the best picture yet.

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Avocets have grey plumage in the winter.  During breeding season, the head turns brown.

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They find food by placing their bills underneath the water and moving side-to-side to filter out the crustaceans and aquatic insects.

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They also tip-up into the water to find food, although it’s more rare than their filtering method.

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The females have a bill that is more upturned than the male’s.  I’m guessing that the Avocet on the right is female.

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They’re very social birds.

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When they walk, the movement is so delicate.  He picks up a foot and lets it glide into the water, almost like a dancer.